.jpeg?width=1200&auto=webp&quality=75 "The ultimate solo guide to Ecuador")
.jpeg?width=1200&auto=webp&quality=75&description=The+ultimate+solo+guide+to+Ecuador){kind=link}
[ad_1]
Having backpacked much of South America in my 20s, Ecuador was always skipped over for one simple reason: affordability. Of course, budget travellers can absolutely visit the biodiverse country (there are hostels and well-trodden backpacking routes galore) but I always knew that I wanted to experience Ecuador more luxuriously, and spend time visiting the bucket-list islands that make up the Galapagos. And for those, a boat, as well as a bit more than a £19 a day budget, is needed.
There’s also the conundrum of safety, since in recent years, Ecuador has gained a bit of a bad reputation. You only have to check out Gov.UK’s travel advice (which is overzealous at the best of times) to see a long list of no-go zones and warnings. Thankfully, many of the areas likely to be visited by tourists are unaffected, and local tour agencies, like Metropolitan Touring (the one I enlisted to help with logistics and safe transfers), are on hand to provide a truly memorable experience for solo travellers wishing to see this enigmatic part of the world.
Here’s my ultimate solo guide to Ecuador for curious, nature-loving travellers…
Acclimatise in Old Town Quito
Quito
Alicia Warner
Like Sri Lanka’s Colombo, Quito is underrated and often used solely as a jumping-off point at the start and end of an Ecuadorian adventure. However, this stunning city deserves as much time as you can spare on account of its exciting art scene, glorious views (one of the world’s highest active volcanoes, Cotopaxi, can be seen on clear days) and fabulous selection of boutique hotels and world-class restaurants.
As one of the highest cities in the world, I started my time in Quito walking aimlessly and super-slowly (due to lack of oxygen), which always feels like the best way to get to grips with a new place. Fragranced with an air of Palo Santo, used to cleanse spaces and shops of bad energy daily, the city hides a multitude of tiny, well-curated art galleries, cafes and museums, of which Museo Casa del Alabado fast became my favourite. Filled with a private collection of stone monoliths, pottery vessels, whistles, masks, funerary urns, and jewellery, all of which date back to the pre-Columbian era, it’s a fascinating and humbling place that should be on every Quito itinerary.
Elsewhere in the city, I stumbled across the free-to-enter Museo Camilo Egas, featuring an exquisite collection of paintings by the esteemed Ecuadorian artist. Often depicting the indigenous people of Ecuador, Egas’s work is important since little had been created to show the country’s local culture in an artistic medium before him. Close by, pause for a coffee, craft beer or cocktail at La Chacotta, a sweet cafe/pizza joint under the shade of a huge fig tree.
Spanning out from Plaza de San Francisco, it’s worth taking time to visit one of the intriguing limpia stores, each overflowing with medicinal herbs, buckets of locally grown roses and all manner of healing tinctures. The shops draw in quiteños in the hope of ridding bad energy and illness. Or head to Mercado San Francisco, where it’s also possible to witness limpia shops in action, alongside fruit and vegetable stands selling everything from a mind-blowing selection of corn to huge, bright yellow babaco fruits.
NUEMA
For dinner in style and to get to grips with some of Ecuador’s most exciting ingredients. Nuema, in the new part of the city, offers a seven or twelve-course tasting menu that celebrates the best of the country’s produce. Highlights include Andean tubers served in various ways and plated up like tiny works of art, and tuna served alongside sacha inchi, a native, nutrient-dense local fruit sometimes called the Inca peanut.
Insider tip: Take advice from locals and be aware of your surroundings, since pickpocketing and bag snatching are possible in Quito. It’s worth removing jewellery and carrying minimal cash while roaming the city, even more so as a solo-er since there’s no one to fall back on should belongings get snatched. Avoid walking the streets alone after dark and always take a licenced cab. I asked my hotel to book recommended taxis for me when I was travelling after dark to be extra cautious.
Casa Gangotena
Tom Allport
Stay at: Casa Gangotena, a gleaming historic building overlooking Old Town Quito’s Plaza de San Francisco. From here, it’s easy to stroll around the Old Town, join an organised walking tour or hop in a cab to the new part of Quito, where a high concentration of innovative restaurants awaits. The hotel itself overflows with vases of fresh cut flowers, expansive bedrooms with shiny marble bathrooms and mixes some of the best cocktails in town. Even if you don’t stay here, be sure to make a restaurant reservation to try the cocktails on the sunset terrace. Rooms from £366 per night.
Make like David Attenborough in the Galápagos Islands
Alicia Warner
While the Galápagos may not at first stand out as a solo travel destination, it is, in fact, ideal. I met many adventurers going it alone during my time in the fascinating archipelago, spanning ages from 28 to 67. And due to the nature of visiting the islands, often by boat, meeting fellow travellers in this part of the world is pretty much unavoidable, so there’s zero chance of feeling lonely.
As the ultimate bucket list destination and a place labelled by David Attenborough as a true “world treasure”, the Galapagos Islands, like Quito, are best explored over as much time as you can spare. For me, that was just four nights based in the Punta Estrada neighbourhood of Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island. From there, I’d head out daily by boat (Finch Bay’s Sea Lion yacht) to explore the differing landscapes of varying islands, of which there are 127, mostly uninhabited.
My favourite island, Plaza Sur, carpeted in bold crimson endemic Sesuvium plants and home to lazing yellow land iguanas, cactus trees, glossy baby sealions, bright red Sally Lightfoot crabs and swallow-tailed gulls. As the only fully nocturnal gull in the world, it was incredible to be in the presence of these intriguing birds, even more so when they started screeching.
Tom Allport
Another highlight was catching a glimpse of three tiny Galapagos penguins during an excursion to Bartolome Island, along with the blue-footed booby, not to mention reef sharks, colossal sea turtles, lobsters and parrotfish under the water during snorkelling sessions. Mesmerised by the otherworldliness of this far-flung archipelago, I turned my attention inland, seeking out tortoises larger and much older than me, and two enormous collapsed volcano craters known as Los Gemelos.
Surrounded by scalesia forest, where lichen-clad trees, orchids and ferns provide a playground for the finches that sparked Darwin’s theory of evolution, it’s clear how the Galapagos has become that ultimate once-in-a-lifetime destination.
Insider tip: There are various forms, clearances and fees to contend with before arriving in the Galapagos Islands, including a $200 park entrance fee, a $16 carbon neutral fee, and a $20 migration control fee to be paid in cash at your departing airport. When booking with Metropolitan Touring, they assist with everything, guiding travellers throughout the process with ease.
Finch Bay
Stay at: One of the only beachside hotels in the area, Finch Bay. If budget allows, the Evolution suites are by far the superior option with incredibly gorgeous bedrooms that feature ocean views, vast bathrooms with standalone tubs and a private terrace area that’s ideal for stargazing. The hotel also makes arranging excursions super simple with daily tours, limited to 20 people heading out every day of the week alongside expert guides from the region. Rooms from £415 per night
Visit the Choco Andean cloud forest
Chris Fynes
My solo Ecuadorian adventure wouldn’t have been complete without a visit to the Andean-Choco region of the country. A place where endemic birds outnumber people, elusive pumas roam the jungle, and waterfalls make the ideal bathing spots.
Around a four-hour drive from Quito, the final stretch of which is mostly over unpaved roads, this private reserve and home to slick hotel, Mashpi Lodge, welcomes its fair share of Gore-Tex-clad pensioners. But don’t let that put you off; there’s occasionally the odd curious nature-adoring solo-er too. And for lovers of bird-life, like me, solo travellers will be in paradise since over 650 species, 36 of which are endemic, call this area home.
On my daily walks, all of which are guided and grouped with other guests, I spotted olive green moss-backed tanagers, crimson rumped toucanets, cinnamon becards, red-cheeked woodpeckers and woodcreepers. Yet I always found myself happiest when immersed in the world of the hummingbirds; inquisitive, rainbow coloured, fast-moving beauties that I watched and attempted to photograph for hours and hours on end.
Alicia Warner
I also became transfixed by the glass frogs often found living in the trees in this part of the world. Best viewed on night walks, which take place each evening at 7pm, these tiny amphibians come in varying shades of green, yet many have completely translucent skin, meaning their bodies are entirely see-through. The forest also houses glasswing butterflies, one of which I caught a glimpse of after a particularly memorable hike to swim in the waters of the forest’s ‘Healing Waterfall’.
It’s impossible not to feel overjoyed at the amount of life teeming within the jungle. You just have to slow down and pause for long enough to embrace it, making Mashpi Lodge the ideal endpoint to an epic solo journey through Ecuador.
Insider tip: Don’t worry about packing binoculars, walking boots or rain ponchos, Mashpi Lodge provides everything needed, ensuring a streamlined packing experience.
Stay at: Mashpi Lodge, hidden deep within the rainforest. Simply decorated bedrooms feature floor-to-ceiling glass windows with a direct view of the moss and vine-covered forest that envelops the property. All meals are included, as are twice daily guided walks, birdwatching, snacks and daily wildlife talks. Rooms from £951 per night
[ad_2]
Source link